The present invention relates to a method and apparatus for managing knowledge data having a function of canceling stored knowledge data, in a system of storing and managing knowledge data.
The previously known system of storing and managing knowledge data, as disclosed in JOHO SHORI KENKYU HOKOKU VOL. 85, No. 7, 1985 41-6 knowledge base management system (KBMS), does not have the function of automatically canceling stored knowledge data on the basis of a certain criterion; and whether the individual knowledge data to be canceled is judged by a user and the operation therefor is performed by the user.
There has also been proposed in JP-A-60-24647 a method of managing knowledge data in which as a criterion of selecting competing rules (knowledge data), each knowledge data is supplied with an evaluation index including elapsed time for deciding whether the knowledge data is to be adopted in comparison with the other knowledge data in order to deal with a certain situation, and when new knowledge data is acquired, the knowledge data with a low evaluation index is replaced.
In the above related arts, acquired knowledge data were increased unlimitedly, and also if the stored data should be partially canceled owing to the limitation in the physical capacity of the storage medium in which the knowledge data are stored, the data to be canceled and the data to be still stored were manually distinguished. Thus, it takes a lot of time and labor to use and manage the knowledge data.
Further, in the technique disclosed in JP-A-60-24647 above, when the knowledge data to be still stored should be selected owing to the limitation in the storage capacity, it was difficult to automatically decide which of not-competing more general knowledge data, e.g. fact data should be canceled or still stored.
Moreover, if competing knowledge data are also replaced wholly by new knowledge data, only the not-competing knowledge data are left.
Accordingly, the related arts mentioned above did not have a criterion of selecting the knowledge data to be still stored in accordance with their degree of importance of storage.